[toomuchtodo]

How do citizens who have limited mobility get around in the area this is enforced in? Huge proponent of these efforts (having experienced car free zones in Spain), but I’m always interested in how accommodations are made for people who have a hard time walking (whether it’s due to age or an ailment).

[chantelles]

I've lived in various places in Europe (most recently Eindhoven) with large car-free areas. Car-free only applies to folks who have no mobility issues. The areas are all fully driveable (in the early mornings delivery vans and trucks are all over) usually with electronic pylons or gates as blocks. Folks with mobility issues can drive in. I often hear the question from North Americans - but again, car free is not a punishment but a reward. It is actually safer for folks with mobility issues because there are massive pedestrian areas with limited/no curbs and no cars.

[IfOnlyYouKnew]

They walk...

Check Google Maps for some representative distances (i. e. picl some apparment building, then map the route to the next supermarket, doctor's office, etc).

You will have a store within 500m for the vast majority of residential buildings, and often within 200m. The closest bus stop should also rarely be farther away than about 150m.

Wheelchairs and electric scooters are used almost exclusively by paraplegics, not by, say, elderly people with arthritis. Having far lower obesity rates compared to the US helps.

My impression is that car ownership is exceedingly rare among the elderly, below the already low 30% of households owning cars.

But these pedestrian areas don't make too much of a difference: they tend to be just single streets, so you can always park on the parallel streets and walk just one block.

[toomuchtodo]

> They walk...

My grandmother is 90, and is unable to walk more than a few feet at a time without being in debilitating pain from advanced arthritis and her being too old for knee replacement surgery. These are the edge cases I'm interested in, especially as the first world rapidly ages and the number of people in the population with mobility issues increases. If the solution is exceptional accessibility for wheelchairs and electric scooters, perfect!

[jdnenej]

Surely they can use those single person electric kart things.

[ericd]

Not sure if this answers your question, but some of those rascal scooters are pretty fast...